The Experiment Hal x OC, Ben x OC
by Skitter-Experiment
Summary: When Hal Mason tries to save his brothers from the Skitters in the hospital, he stumbles across more than he bargained for when he finds a girl chained to a medical table, she introduces herself as Lia Morgan, a 17 year old from Australia, with a little sister named Jess. Both have a secret to hide, and both have a history with the Skitters... Will the Mason boys be able to help?
1. Chapter 1

Lia watched as the Skitter came around the corner, giving her a once over before proceeding with the rest of the harnessed kids. She was still strapped to an operating table, shivering from the pain of the scalpel that was embedded in her thigh.

The Skitters had stopped pumping her with their brand of steroids, but she could still feel the aftereffects. If she didn't make it out of here and grab Jess in time she'd be forced to endure another training session.

The skitters seemed intrigued by the skills she and her sisters possessed, along with their courage and stubbornness, they had been turned into warriors, to fight for the skitters, against their better judgement and against their will. It wasn't something she would wish upon her worst enemy.

Struggling, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, but when her blue eyes snapped to the nurses station, there was nothing. Rolling her eyes at her stupidity, Lia struggled to moved her hands until they were facing palm up, before painfully pulling her fingers closer to the locks the skitters had made.

A small gasp of pain tore through her throat as her wrist cracked, but she didn't pay any attention to it, she reached up and ran her finger through the straight line in between the cuffs, silver against the black material.

The cuff snapped open and she leaned up on her elbow gratefully. Her hand clamped down over her mouth in pain to stop the screams as her leg lit up in pain, feeling like fire had spread all through her leg, she couldn't feel anything from the thigh down.

"Get a grip Lia." she whispered fiercely, opening the cuff on her other hand before leaning down quickly to put her fist around the scalpel. "One..." she stopped, hesitating for a few seconds, "Two!" she cried, yanking the scalpel out, biting down hard on her jacket sleeve to stop from screaming as the scalpel ripped through layers of muscle.

"You shouldn't have done that… and you forgot three." a voice said, as warm hands came down to cover the blood that was rushing out of the wound. Her head snapped up, shocked at hearing a normal human voice. "You're not harnessed? And I surprise myself by doing it on two, trick my Mum taught me." she whispered, staring up the handsome boy, his brown hair and dark eyes appraising her slowly.

"No, but my brother is. The skinner just took him in there." he motioned to a door to a children's ward. "So once I get you off this table, we're going to get him and we'll get you out of here." he said, giving her a slightly cocky smirk.

Lia rolled her eyes as the cuffs on her legs came undone. "You go. I need to grab my sister and my guns and we'll come back to the room. Count on it." she said, pulling her jacket off and taking her shirt off, leaving her in a white tank top.

She pulled the jacket back on and began splitting the shirt into one long line to wrap her leg with, it had been all of 5 minutes but she didn't care that she didn't know this boy, or that he didn't know her, she just wanted out, she wanted to get away from the misery that was being controlled and trained by the skitters.

"Are you sure?" he asked, coming to stand in front of her. She nodded, "I'm not leaving Jess in here. I'll meet you back in that room, I promise just... don't leave without me." she added on as an afterthought. He laughed slightly, which made her blush, he had a nice laugh, bubbling out through his throat.

He held his hand out. "I'm Hal Mason." he whispered, she blushed, but took his hand, "Lia Morgan" she said, he smiled brightly, "Nice to meet you Lia… your accent?" he asked, trying to place it, she smiled back and let him help her down off the operating table, "Australian. Born and raised." she said, giving him a small mock salute. "Australian eh?" he asked, looking her up and down, realising now that her tan wasn't fake. "Wow. You're far from home." he said, Lia winced but nodded, "my Mum had family over here, we came to visit them, and three days later the whole world went down." she said, rolling her eyes. "You sure you're okay to walk?" he asked, looking down at her leg. "When in Rome." she said, earning a small glare from him.

She smirked at him before walking off as best as she could without limping, her sister had been chained up a floor below in the cancer ward, which scared her a little, all the old machines remained, and the fact that so many little kids had died here of such a terrible disease... it left stains on the hospital, the echoes of children in pain and the whispered conversations that doctors had with parents.

She took the stairs quickly, trying to ignore the burning in her legs and the shoots of pain that running through her veins, the door pushed open with no creaks, which she was grateful for, rounding the corner she poked her head out, scanning the surrounding area quickly before walking out into the open.

She took a hard left and pushed open the door to the room her sister was being kept in, clenching her hands tightly as Lia watched her baby sister with her arms chained to the ceiling, swinging back and forth gently.

Stepping forward, she grabbed her guns, strapping them quickly to her back, her side arm onto her thigh and two more guns in holsters under her arms. Two knives slid into specially made boots, the knife points coming to rest in line with her ankles.

She grabbed one of the knives and reached up to cut Jess free, she dropped to the floor, only just saved by Lia jumping in and grabbing her around the back, Jess slumped forward onto her and uttered a small groan, shaking her strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Lia?" she whispered, looking up at her with big blue eyes. "It's alright Jess. I'm here, theres a human in here, he's gonna get his brother and we're gonna get out." she whispered, her heart swelling as a genuine smile spread across Jess' face for the first time since the attack.

Jess quickly grabbed her guns, strapping them on and nodded to Lia. Noticing her limp, Jess grabbed her under one arm and helped her limp back up the stairs, Lia's head snapped up and her gun came up to meet the person who had just stepped out of the ward.

"Woah!" he cried, holding his hands up. "I'm assuming you're Lia?" the man asked. He had black hair, a shade or so darker than Hal's and dark blue eyes, staring at her curiously. When she didn't say anything, he stepped forward, holding his hand out in a peace gesture.

"I'm Tom. Hal's dad. He said you'd be coming with your sister." Jess shot her a wary look, but she nodded slowly, a slight careful movement that no one else but Lia would see. Jess moved her right arm back behind her, pulling her sleeves down to cover the glowing blue veins, stretching all the way to her shoulder.

She stepped forward, grabbing his hand and shaking once. "We've collected all the harnessed kids in the building, we're getting them out." Tom said, leading her through the door. A startled gasp tore through Jess' throat at the dead skitter on the floor.

Lia spun, ignoring everyone else in the room and pulled her to her chest, pressing Jess' head into her shoulder. "Jess. It's fine. Every things fine I promise." she said soothingly, stroking her sisters hair as she drew in deep breaths, clenching and unclenching her hands around the back of Lia's jacket.

"You promise?" she whispered, pulling back. "I promise. I always get us out of the shit we get ourselves into, don't I?" Jess smirked a little and nodded, pressing a small kiss to the top of her head, she pushed her away from her gently.

Jess followed her to the window, Lia carefully boosting her out while a pair of strong hands gripped her from the other side. Sighing Lia grabbed onto the windowsill and threw a last fleeting look at the dead skitter.

"Serves you right for what you did to us jackass." she whispered, wanting badly to walk over and smash its skull in. She gasped as a pair of arms wound around her stomach, lifting her up and through the window, when she was out with both combat booted feet firmly on the ground, she turned.

"Hal?" she whispered, looking up at him. He smirked, "welcome to the second mass Lia Morgan." he winked, she rolled her eyes but smirked back, before unwinding herself from his arms, feeling slightly empty without them there and walked over to the truck, slamming down into the back of it next to Jess, pulling her close to her body to warm her up.

"What if they see it?" Jess whispered softly, looking up from the bed of the truck. Lia jumped slightly and moved her eyes down from the brilliant silver stars. She took a moment for her little sisters words to sink in, before a fierce desire to protect her arose once again.

"They wont." she said shortly, her intentions smoothing through her voice. "But what if they do." Jess said, clamping her hands down on her white t-shirt. Lia bit her bottom lip and looked back up at the sky, not noticing Hal staring at the quiet exchange between the two sisters.

"They wont." she said firmly, nodding her head, more to herself to reassure that nothing bad would happen to her baby sister. She had promised her Mum that she'd look after her before she passed.

And she would do just that.


	2. Chapter 2

They arrived back at what looked like a high school, and sure enough, as they turned the corner, there written in huge block letters was JOHN F KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL.

An involuntary groan rose from Lia's throat.

"Damn, I thought I'd escaped high school once and for all." she whispered down to Jess, who giggled slightly. Rolling her eyes she hopped down from the truck, a breath of pain came whistling through her teeth, she sucked in another breath and moved over to help Jess down.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to meet the dark eyes of Hal Mason. "You need to get that checked out." he whispered, she turned her head slightly and looked at the harnessed kids that were being carried off to the med bay.

"I will. Once this is all over. Those kids need help more than I do, it can wait." she whispered, feeling immense sadness at what the skitters had done to those children - what they had done to her family. She felt Hal sigh and she turned back, his eyes were curious, like he didn't understand her just yet.

"You're a good person Lia." he whispered, she smirked and shouldered his hand away, turning and grabbed Jess's hand, making sure her jacket covered her whole arm. "That's where you're wrong Mason." she said as she walked away.

He smirked as he watched her walk away, limping slightly before he shook his head and helped his Dad grab Ben from the truck and carried him into the chem lab.

It had been at least an hour since Lia had seen Hal, she had been welcomed into the second mass with only a few questions asked, ones that she had to lie brilliantly to get out of, she told them she and her sister were going to be harnessed, but made it out before they could.

Captain Weaver had seemed impressed by her arsenal, the large automatic gun laying heavily on her back for one. She had laughed and said that her Dad was army, so it wasn't too hard to get her hands on one, the fact that he was army seemed to make Captain Weaver even more impressed.

Her and her sister had been shown around the school and given a room to sleep in, right across from the Mason's apparently, which made her happy and scared her at the same time, when Jess had finally settled down and gone to sleep, she stood up and slipped quietly out of the room, meaning to walk out into the cool night air to clear her thoughts and put everything into perspective for a while.

She stopped when she heard a banging on one of the lockers, she turned and her stomach twisted into knots as her eyes came to rest on the agitated form of Hal. She quickly made a decision to forget her walk and sat down beside him, reaching over to catch the ball he was throwing against the locker.

"Your brother's in there right?" she asked, holding the ball out in her open hand. He grimaced and took the ball, nodding slightly. "Yeah, Ben, he's been missing since the invasion." he was quiet for a second, listening to the yelling behind the doors of the chem lab that was being used as a medical centre.

Lia listened to the yelling, "God I hope they know what they're doing." she whispered, Hal tensed, turning to look at her incredulously, "and you do?" he whispered angrily. She looked down, wringing her hands, "I do. The Skitters... well." she paused as her voice became thick, tears brimming in her eyes at the thought of the screams of her sister as the experiments continued, the withdrawal symptoms of the steroids they gave them and the rigourous training simulations designed by the overlords.

She took a deep shuddering breath, forcing the thoughts out of her mind. "Lets just say that the skitters and me have a history. They're bound to want me back, so if that comes up in conversation with your leader, then my sister and I will be happy to leave. But for the time being, I'm going to try to forget what happened." she stood up, brushing her jeans off.

"Your brother will be alright. I know it." she whispered, running a hand over his shoulder before walking off, sticking her hands deep in her pockets. "Lia." he called to her, her heart skipped a beat, but she turned, meeting his gaze.

"You promise to tell me... what happened to you?" he asked. She smiled sadly, the pain that she knew was coming was too much to bear. "If we're still here in a week." she said cryptically, voice breaking on the last syllable.

Hal scrunched his eyes in confusion and his easygoing smile faltered. She turned, not being able to handle it anymore and walked off, hearing Hal's excited call as his father walked out of the chem lab and told him that his brother would be alright, but he wouldn't be awake until tomorrow sometime.

She walked out into the night air, her leg throbbing painfully, finding a secluded spot in the trees she laid her back against the hard tree trunk as a low cry tore through her throat, tears brimmed in her eyes again as the memories arose painfully, burying the heels of her hands into her eyes to stem the flow she breathed heavily, an elated feeling soaring through her system, she was finally free, she didn't have to live in constant fear anymore, the dreaded feeling of the next hit or the fresh screams from her sister.

She would burn what was left of this city to the ground and take on the overlords herself before she would hear her sister scream like that again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I've been so happy with all the reviews I've been getting, so thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do that for me, it really means a lot and it's making me heaps happy! So heres a new chapter just cause ;) xx Ellie**

She woke up three days later in a cold sweat, shaking slightly as a silent scream came out through her lips. Jess quickly awoke, jerking awake in seconds when the bed next to hers jostled.

"Lia?" she whispered groggily, "I'm fine squirt. Go back to sleep." she whispered, putting a hand down gently on her arm. Jess laid back down putting her arm under her head, when Lia tried to roll back over a shot of pain burst through her leg, screaming she sat up, holding her leg.

"Lia!" Jess cried, sitting up. There was a loud bang and someone came crashing through the door from the next room, her head snapped up to meet them and she saw Hal standing there, gun at the ready and his eyes sweeping the room frantically.

"Lia are you okay?" he said, running over and taking her hands in his. A small blush crept up on her cheeks as she stared up at him and then looked down at her hands in his, resting on top of her wound, the blood slowly seeping through the bandage.

"We need to get you to Anne now." Hal said, slinging his gun over his shoulder and grabbing the bottom of her legs in his hand, the other going around her back. "Wait!" she whispered, leaning down with Hal's help to grab the sidearm stored under her pillow, as she slid it into her holster, a small chuckle came out through his throat, she could feel it emanating from the pit of his stomach, sending a warm feeling through her body.

Jess stood, staring up at Hal curiously, she was only a year and a half younger than Lia, but she seemed so much like a child, it was hard to not treat her like one. "You must be Jess." he said, looking down at her, she smiled and nodded. "I'm Hal." he said, "Lia said you got us out of there. So thanks." she said, Hal smiled wide and nodded, motioning for her to walk ahead of them.

Lia stared up at Hal through her eyelashes, she clenched and unclenched her hand around Hal's shirt, wondering what was going through his mind. She was wondering why he was being so nice, why he would go out of his way for her and carry her nonetheless, and why he brought about such feelings inside her.

Jess trailed behind, looking at the different people and subconsciously pulling her sleeve down more, trying to cover all the way down to her fingertips to hide the bright blue veins. Little did she know that a perfect blonde boy with spikes in his back was trailing behind quietly.

Hal pushed open the door to the chem lab, holding it open for Jess, who smiled up at him and nodded, walking further into the room and coming up short when she realised it was a medical facility.

"Jess." Lia whispered, grabbing onto her shirt and pulling her along as Hal walked, "you're fine, no ones going to do anything to you, I promise." she whispered, Jess nodded slowly, swallowing around the huge lump in her throat, Hal looked a little confused at the exchange, but didn't say a word.

"Anne?" Hal called out into the room, there was a crash and a muttered curse, before a pretty woman with long brown hair and almond eyes came walking out, wiping her hands on her pants. "Hal and... company." she said, smiling kindly at the two girls, who were so obviously sisters.

"Lia here thought that the harnessed kids yesterday were more important then her leg injury." Hal said, setting her down on the examination table. Anne clucked and walked over, pulling the makeshift bandage away from her leg, wincing at the bright red flesh that was visible, before she cut her jeans around the injury and pulled, spreading the seams outward to show the full wound.

"You're the one the skitters had locked up in the hospital... with no harness." she said, looking up into the girls bright blue eyes. Lia gulped, but nodded, "what did they want with you?"she asked curiously, leaning forward a little.

"They... they were training me." she said defeated, but she didn't want to say anymore then that, she flicked her eyes to Hal and then back to Anne, who nodded slightly in a silent agreement. Instantly she trusted Anne, she knew that she was a good person, someone who wouldn't spill the beans.

"Now lets get you cleaned up." she said, grabbing a bottle of iodine and leaning over, Lia gasped and grabbed her hand as she went to pour it, spilling a little of the liquid she knew would burn the absolute crap out of her leg.

"Do you have to use that stuff?" she whispered, a small chuckle came from Hal's throat. "This coming from the girl who pulled a scalpel out of her bone." he said, Lia rolled her eyes and looked over at him, "This stuff hurts more than that, it kills infection, which really-" she was cut off by her own screaming as Anne poured the iodine into her wound, Hal dropped his smirk and ran over, grabbing her hand to hold her steady, she squeezed back tightly, clenching her teeth together and letting a small groan whistle through her teeth.

"Fuuuuuuck" she managed to get out, leaning back and lying down on the table, using her free hand to cover her eyes, "ugh." she whispered as her leg began throbbing, "that was so sneaky." she said, looking up at Anne who laughed, "I used it all the time on my kids when they didn't want needles. Works in a pinch." Lia rolled her eyes and let her head bang back down on the table and clenched Hal's hand tighter as she began to probe deeper into the wound to see the extent of the damage.

"It's scraped bone but theirs no extensive damage to it, so it should be fine..." she trailed off, letting her sentence hang in the air. Lia sat up, knowing where this was going. "But?" she asked, leaning forward a little.

Anne sighed looking between her and Hal. "But, it's torn apart too many muscles, I'm going to have to try and sew them back up and hope for the best, you're going to have to stay off it for as long as possible." she said, sighing deeply.

Lia groaned and laid back down, looking over at Hal who was staring at her curiously. "How am I going to fight?" she whispered, staring up at him, he sighed and looked down to their hands. "You can sit and shoot." he said firmly, before looking up at her and smiling.

She smiled back, feeling a pressure in her stomach as it twisted into small knots at the brilliant smile on his face. "You ready?" Anne asked, coming back with the needle, Lia nodded slowly, laying her head back down as she tore her gaze away from the needle, "I don't suppose you've got anything to numb my leg huh?" Lia whispered, looking to Anne, she smirked a little and shook her head. Groaning Lia put her head back down on the table and holding Hal's hand tighter, focusing on the roof and how many tiles it contained while trying to remain in control of her emotions and her heartbeat.

The pressure of Hal's hand around her had set her heart off again in a wild drum rhythm that shocked even her as she slowly moved her eyes down from the roof to his face, peering up through her eyelashes, watching him carefully as he focused on Anne and her work, trying to make sure that she didn't put a finger out of place as she sewed Lia's muscles together, Hal must have sensed her eyes on him, because his gaze flickered to her, she bit back her gasp, but couldn't stop her hand twitching in response.

He smirked back down at her, lighting up his face as he laughed silently, but squeezed her hand back, knowing she was hurting. Another spike shot up her leg as the needle entered her tender flesh, she tried desperately to hold her leg in place and not jolt everywhere out of pain, but it was getting harder and harder to sit still, it was like a itch she wasn't able to scratch just yet, and she wanted more than anything to reach down and pull the damned needle out of Anne's hand, but she'd get chastised for that, they might even see it as an attack and get Hal to shoot her into submission.

She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to get rid of the visual, and succeeded in visualising Hal's soft lips on hers, which she liked very much, but didn't feel right with him standing right in the room staring down at her, she squeezed his hand once and fought back the images, trying to focus on her little sister and how it was before, which only resulted in her feeling more like crap and getting depressed… as she usually did.

"Almost done." Anne whispered, setting her out of her revelry and snapping her eyes open. The last stitch was sewn and Lia sat up with Hal's help, his hand leaving a hot spot on her back that burned like a brand, spreading through her system. Anne grabbed a clean bandage and wiped the stitches down with Iodine once, which sent another painful hiss through her teeth, Anne stopped, looking down at her jeans, Lia laughed once under her breath and smirked. "Hand me those scissors over there would you?" she asked Anne. Anne looked a little wary, but once Hal nodded, she quickly swiped the pair off the table and handed them to her.

Lia cut a small line above the stitches and pulled, ripping the excess material off around her legs, revealing more thigh than she would normally be comfortable with, but desperate times called for desperate measures, the bandage would never be able to get on properly and the cut in her jeans competed for the more annoying pieces of clothing she had ever owned. She did the same with the other leg, making sure to measure it exactly right or it would bother her for the rest of the time she owned the shorts, she rolled them up to hide the fraying and was finished.

"Done!" she said with a huge sigh, setting the scissors down into Anne's hand, just to reassure her that she wasn't going to try anything. She smiled at her slightly and nodded, before coming back with bandages and wrapped her leg up tight. "Alright, we're all good, stay off that leg as much as possible alright Lia?" Anne said, holding her shoulder, Lia nodded, smiling a little and grabbed her arm to help herself off the table, but Hal stopped her. "Woah woah woah. Hold on a sec." he said, coming around the side of the table her legs were hanging off and grabbed her under the legs, being extra careful off her thigh, wincing when a hiss of pain came through her lips. "Sorry," he muttered, putting her arms around his neck and pulling her into her arms.

"Hal, there is no way that I'm going to let you carry me around all day. I'm not exactly the lightest person in the 2nd mass." she said, looking up at him. "I know. But I'm going to do my damnedest to try." he said, winking a little. Lia groaned a little but laid her head on his shoulder, feeling her eyes slide close with exhaustion. "Make sure she takes two of these every day, one in the morning with breakfast and one at night with dinner. Prevents infection." she heard Anne say, muffled a little by the thick blanket of sleep.

She felt Hal start moving, but he was stopped again by Anne. "Hal." he turned slightly, "what happened to Karen-" he tensed slightly, "it wasn't your fault, and it's okay to let yourself fall again… she's a beautiful girl, but she's been through a lot. Make sure you're completely with it before you do anything, you'll break her heart." she whispered. Hal cleared his throat, but she felt him nod. "Believe me, thats the last thing I want to do." he whispered, before turning and walking out of the room.

Lia tried to hold on, but she couldn't and eventually sleep took over, and she succumbed to the blackness.


	4. Chapter 4

Jessica had found herself walking out of the chem lab, she couldn't bear to stay in there any more, not with Lia's painful hisses and the sight of her blood, it brought back too many memories that she didn't really want to put up with anymore, subconsciously she pulled down her jacket sleeve some more, trying to hide the fluorescent blue veins that ran up her arm, to the joint between upper arm and lower arm, right in the crease of her elbow. She couldn't bear to think what would happen to Lia if it was found out that her sister was a Skitter experiment, Lia could lie and say she had no part in it, her veins ran deeper down into her arm, they weren't as pronounced because she didn't need as high a dose as she did, but Jess knew she wouldn't let her go unless she got down on her knees and begged her to just let go.

She had walked for a little while, until a dark dusty room caught her attention, possessed by something she hadn't felt before, she shoved open the door and walked to the other side of the room, being careful not to hit anything as she pulled the blinds and let some light into the dusty room. Fighting hard to subdue her squeal of delight, she looked the black beauty over, walking around the circumference, a huge grin spreading over her face. "Finally, something good about this place." she whispered, sitting down on the stool and pushing the lid of the grand piano back, exposing the beautiful ivory white and black keys.

Pulling her straight blonde hair over her shoulder, Jess' hands hovered over the keys, her mind running through all the things she could play, but only one thing popped into her mind, the song her mother had fallen in love with as a small child and had played at her wedding. _Claire De Lune_ hummed quietly from the piano as Jess pressed down on the keys, lighting brushing the instrument, wringing the notes from it so delicately as if it was a butterfly, all memories of the invasion or what happened with the skitters vanished from her mind as she closed her eyes and envisioned sitting back in her lounge room in Australia and playing for her mother on her birthday, Lia smiling brilliantly as her father cradled her mother in his arms, laughing when a small sniffle appeared from her nose.

She jumped a little when her own hands banged down on the keys, earning her a harsh and loud noise, almost making her jump. She then realised that tears were running from her eyes, and reached up, surprised and touched the wetness on her cheeks. "Goddamn it." she whispered, pulling her sleeves back down, "how long have you been able to play for?" a soft voice asked, Jess spun quickly, holding her hands up in self-defence, a startled blonde boy stared back at her, blue eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, looking down a little, blushing. Jess turned away, trying to hide her blush, the boy was perfect, tall and lean with his blonde hair flopping down in front of his face, with big soft lips that she wanted to run her fingers over. She looked back up, "I've been playing since I was three." she whispered, smiling softly at him. He smiled back and walked further into the room, "you're very good." she blushed a deeper red, he was too sweet for her, for all that she been through.

"I should be" she said, looking into his soul sucking blue eyes. "I was pushed hard enough." embarrassed, she looked down at the keys again, pushing her resistant hair behind her ears, before she gaped down at the visible blue lines, shoving her hand under her thigh, trying desperately to hide the veins. He sat down next to her, "I'm Ben." he said, smiling, she blushed and smiled back, "I'm Jess." she whispered back, his eyes went wide for a second, "Hal said that you and your sister were in the same building as me?" he asked, motioning to the spikes on his back, she gaped at them, and he shifted to the side a little self consciously, like she would be afraid of him.

"I'm not afraid." she whispered, getting up and closing the door, and making sure all the blinds were down and all windows covered, she somehow trusted Ben, he had been in the same facility anyways, he was bound to remember _something_ about her. "Can you keep a secret for me, even from your own family?" she asked, turning away from a nearby window, he bit down on his lip and thought about it for a moment, before a ferocity enclosed his eyes, startling Jess. "Yes." he whispered, "you were in almost the same situation as me, of course I can do it for you." he said, she smiled and walked over to him, pulling him up with her good hand.

"You've got your spikes as a memory, I've got… well I've got this." she whispered, pulling her shirt sleeve up to the elbow, earning a startled and pained gasp from Ben. His hands tentatively reached out to touch it, sending a warm feeling to her stomach as his cool hands met her skin, "they… they did this to you?" he whispered, looking up at her, Jess bit her lip and nodded, "I have skills that they wanted, but I was sick as a kid… so I needed a double dose, Lia's got the same thing, but it's deeper into her system so you cant see it, she's the lucky one."

Ben looked up at her, a little shocked, she could see the sadness behind his eyes but she didn't comment on it, knowing that if she said anything the tears behind her own eyes would spill over, "they… forced you to fight with them?" he asked, looking up at her slightly through his fringe, she bit her lip but nodded, trying to ignore the butterflies raging in her stomach, and the twitching in her fingers as she fought the urge to take his hair in her fingers and brush it away from his forehead.

"I'm sorry." he said suddenly, after a minute of silence. She looked up quickly, meeting his blue eyes with a small smile, "it's alright, you don't have to apologise, you were in much the same situation. It's the skitters who should be apologising… I hate what they did to my sister and I." she whispered eyes widening as he took her hands. She smiled and went to open her mouth again, before loud shouting could be heard from outside the door, "what the?" Ben said standing up quickly.

Jess knew the sounds of people running after fugitives well, and didn't waste any time in pulling her sleeve down and grabbing the pistol she had stored in her combat boot, rushing out the door and searching the hallway quickly, seeing a family of three sprinting down the hallway with a white bag in the father's hand, and she knew they had stolen medicine from Anne. "Bastards!" Jess screamed, sprinting after the family at full pelt, ignoring Ben's yells for her to come back.

She became worried when he shoved over a table, which lodged itself on the opposite wall, meaning she would have to slide under it, while Ben could still see her. She sighed, knowing what she would have to do and how she would have to answer to it later, but let her momentum carry her, her legs going under the shelf first, the rest of her body following in a smooth, fluid move that stunned even her. She spun to stand up, meeting Ben's beyond shocked face before biting her lip and turning away, once again sprinting after the idiots who had stolen medicine.

She saw Tom Mason and Captain Weave run out another door, sprinting after the family as well, Tom nodded at her as she came up beside them, hardly out of breath and holding her pistol close. She dropped to the floor when she heard the gunshot go off. "Idiots with guns is a bad mix." she whispered, putting her head in her hands, "leave us alone! I'll shoot I swear!" came the voice. Jess sighed and knelt up, bringing her pistol with her, carefully scanning for the family, if she could shoot the gun out of his hand no one else would have to get hurt.

She raised herself a little higher, and a gun shot went off. She could see the bullet coming towards her, her enhanced eyes picking up spotting it come rushing towards her, and managed to get clear, only letting the bullet scrape her arm slightly as she dived. Not a sound came out of he mouth as she it the ground, ignoring the slight bleeding of the flesh wound. "I'm fine." she whispered to Tom, who was helping her up, a worried look on his face. "Hold your fire for a bit, he's got a kid with him." Tom said to Weaver and Mike, who had tried to open the door and climb through.

"Just… go back!" the man cried, "no one else needs to get hurt!" Weaver shook his head, Jess could see the anger in his eyes as she turned from the hiding place of the family to his face. "No ones going anywhere! Just throw us the meeds and you can go!" Weavers ultimatum must have made him mad because a gunshot sounded out, followed by another a few seconds later. "Drop it! Or die, right now!" came another voice, deeper voice, a few minutes past as the two men held a conversation, the waiting agony for Jess as she listened for the sound of more gunshots.

"Who the hell is out there!" Weave finally yelled, Jess could see the anger shining through his face - she could already tell that Weaver was an angry and impatient man, he was definitely going to be a handful. "Tony Clayton! 7th Mass!" came the reply. Instantly the three men relaxed, but it made the young girl tense even more her muscles locking together, a feeling of dread spreading throughout her system. She had a programmed sense of intuition, it wasn't a natural thing brought about by the skitters and their games, she knew that Clayton was bad news something about the detached voice seemed… off.

"Is that Captain Weaver?" he called again, shocking Jess out of her thoughts, "yeah!" Weaver called back over the top of the car, "it's alright, come on up!" he yelled. Tom took Jess by the arm as they stood, pulling her to face him, with eyes that reminded him of Ben's which elicited an unfamiliar reaction from her stomach the feeling that something was flapping. "You've done well Jess, I know that everyone back at the school will be scared and confused as to whats going on, I need you to go back and clear everything up… and check on Anne, if you wouldn't mind?" Jess tensed at the mention of Anne, she was a doctor a woman who worked in a medical lab with test tubes and beakers, she knew exactly what would happen if Anne were to see the blue veins on her skin. They would hold her down and probe her until they had removed the liquid from the veins, and Jess knew that she would die if anymore than a drop was removed.

Forcing her thoughts away, Jess nodded, knowing that she could take someone with her to protect her someone she could trust. She turned and walked back towards the school knowing that Anne would be a little more than shaken up, and she knew exactly how she felt and the fear of being beaten and tortured by that fear. When she arrived back at the school, she had all of 5 seconds before a tall blonde girl came running out of the front doors and grabbed her by the wrist.

"What the hell were you thinking!" Lia screamed, Jess just stared up at the person who used to be her sister she knew the skitters "medicine" was taking effect, the side-effects were always dangerous and Jess could see the blue liquid rushing towards her surface veins, "Lia… you need to calm down." she whispered, trying to work her wrist out of Lia's iron grip and ignoring the crowd that had gathered. Lia's eyes burned, "you could have gotten yourself killed." she whispered fiercely, her fingernails digging deeper into her skin pulling a wince from Jess's normally unbreakable skin. Jess sighed, "you know full well that killing me is impossible. Because of what they did to _us_, Lia we're in this together, you need to push away the cravings and force your way through it." Jess' hand was finally released, her sister slumping forward a little as she turned and walked back into the school, ignoring the curious looks and confused stares as she kicked open the door.

Jess sighed and looked down, noticing that Lia had broken her skin with her nails and tiny beads of red blood were leaking out from the small nail marks. Jess made her way inside, doing exactly as her sister had done and ignoring the curious stares, answering anyone that questioned her about the families actions, telling them calmly that Weaver, Tom, Mike and herself had gotten the meds back and Weaver was now talking to the Commander of the 7th mass. She searched for about ten minutes for Ben, hoping that he would come with her to Anne. She found herself missing his infectious smile and bright blue eyes as soon as she had left, even though she had met him only a few hours ago.

She was ready to give up searching when she heard a boys voice yelling for her, turning she met the blue eyes of Ben Mason, smiling at her brightly as her hair wafted around her face her own blue eyes watching him intently. "I've been looking for you!" she said, smiling a little and trying to hide her blush. His eyes widened a fraction before he corrected himself, trying to contain his blush as well, "whats up?" he asked, stepping a little closer as her face fell, "um…" she didn't know if she should ask Ben if he would come with her, it seemed like such a weak and fragile request.

"Jess, you're bleeding!" he cried, stepping forward and grabbing her arm where the bullet had grazed her. She blushed deeper as his smell wafted over her like cherries and old novels, her two favourite things. "its nothing." she whispered, pulling her arm away and trying to hide the bloodstained sleeve of her shirt. "I-I was wondering if you'd come with me to see Anne, your Dad asked me to check up on her after what happened and I cant stand to be around doctors or medical facilities by myself… too many bad memories you know?" she whispered, looking down. She felt Ben's finger go under her chin and pull her face up to meet his, only to find him smiling.

"I know exactly how you feel." he whispered, his normally cheeky blue eyes filled with seriousness, he took her hand bodily making her heart jump into a wild drumbeat and pulled her along towards the chem lab, her heart pulsing in fear with every step they took towards the chem lab. Ben jerked to a stop at the door to the lab, making her bump into his shoulder slightly to which she laughed and blushed, offering a muttered 'sorry' and blushing deeper as he smiled at her.

Jess' attention was cut off from her stomach twisting into knots as she stared at Ben to her sister, walking out of the chem lab - minus a pistol, shock ran through system as she watched her retreating sisters back, Jess knew she had others, so maybe she hadn't given her the one that the skitters had made for them, but for Lia to give up a weapon was a true sign that she trusted someone, or wanted to keep them safe. And although Jess knew that she shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that, she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed at the fact that Lia had so readily handed over her prized weapons without so much as an inner argument, and to a _doctor_ no less.

Ben dragged her into the room, watching curiously as Anne jumped and shoved the gun into the desk drawer. "Ben and Jess. What can I do for you?" she said, smiling only slightly to avoid splitting the cut on her lip. Jess noted sadly that Anne seemed very put off and shaky, like she was expecting an attack from anyone or anything at any given moment, Jess now knew why Lia had handed over her gun so readily. Anne had a look about her that Jess knew very well, and with horror in her eyes she watched as Anne smiled at her again realising who it was that Anne reminded her so much of.

Before Jess knew it she was running out the door, trying desperately to hold her tears in as she streaked through the hallways not bothering to say sorry to people she bumped into, and ignoring Ben's cries for her to stop running.

_Anne was the image of her mother_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again! ;) I just want to say again that I'm so grateful for all the reviews. And I just wanted to say that I'd envisioned Taylor Swift as Lia and Elle Fanning as Jess ;) I love the two of them, and they do look like sisters... sort of :P xx Ellie**

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Jess had run for a few minutes before she realised she had lost Ben and had found herself behind the school in a forest, sitting high in a tree as she shivered against the pain in her chest. Of all the things she could feel guilty about, the only thing she did feel that way about was leaving Ben, she would have liked his company at this moment and his familiar smell of old books, it reminded her of her father's office, filled with old fantasy novels and classics, brimming over the shelves as she walked into the room lined with at least 15 different bookshelves.

Tears came streaming down her face, and before she knew it she was sobbing, knees drawn up to her chest and her head buried down tight between them, trying to muffle the sounds of her torture as it made its way out of her body. She cried for her sister and how she must be feeling, she cried at the ache in her chest where her parents should have been, and the slow and torturous death that was not having them around, she cried for the pain she knew would crush her chest when she saw Anne again next, and every time after that she set her eyes on the woman that had the aura, smile and eyes that her mother had been gifted with.

And the thing that reduced her to a blubbering mess of absolute terror was the tears that could have filled a river. For the injustices that had been forced upon her by the skitters and their overlords, the training simulations and being whipped and shot when she wasn't good enough, for the constant injections and screams throughout the hospital as she listened to other people die.

Jess didn't know how long she had sat there crying - she believed that it would have been well over two hours, the sun was now high in the sky and the lunch bell had just gone - but she could hear the sounds of everyone moving off the lunch and realised it would be a good time for her to go back to the rooms and find Ben, she needed to say she was sorry for running off on him like that, she knew she wasn't ready to tell him what had happened while she was locked up in the hospital, but she knew that she wanted him around, and getting attached was a feeling she was wary of, but didn't mind all that much.

She wanted to be able to lean on Ben, to finally have a friend in her life and be able to feel happiness be given to her by someone other than Lia. Her big sister was her protector and her only family, she was someone she could count on, but she wanted someone who was more than that someone that she could laugh with in a way that her sister couldn't. And she wanted it to be Ben for some strange reason, she felt attached to the boy with the spikes, like they were both outcasts, not quite belonging with humans, but not belonging with the aliens… a faction all there own, and she knew that in the times ahead, they would lean on each other heavily throughout the months to come she could feel it.

Smiling, she looked over the edge of the tree and jumped the 20 meters to the ground, coming to rest on the ground as if she had just walked down a flight of stairs, another drawback of the skitters experiments. She found herself sneaking back into the school as if she was a fugitive, throwing furtive glances down every hallway before she turned it, and pressing her back against the walls in an attempt to hide if she heard a noise. Jess found herself hovering outside of Ben's door, before she turned away like a coward and walked into her room, noticing with complete happiness that the door between the two rooms was still open, since Hal had burst into the room this morning after Lia had screamed bloody murder at the pain in her leg.

She could hear a small boy counting, and quickly walked to the door, peering around it as she looked at a small boy's curly blonde hair, sitting on a couch as someone did pushups. "98… 99… 100… 101… 102" the smaller boy stopped counting as the older one stood up, slapping the sides of his legs as he bounced. Jess had to muffle the gasp that came out of her mouth as she realised that she was staring at Ben without a shirt, a fierce blush spread over her face as she watched him walk around the room as the boy who could only be his smaller brother talked.

"You just did 102 pushups!" he cried, Ben smiled, "I did?" he asked, not seeming to surprised by it but Jess knew that he was scared, just as she had been when she found out how far she could push her body. Jess blushed as her eyes ran over Ben's half naked body, not feeling scared or wary as he turned his back and she saw the spikes for the first time, the small black spikes looked more like bone than anything and held a whole system of roots beneath his skin.

She was interrupted by Hal's annoyed voice, "guys! Keep it down, I've got night sentry duty with Lia later!" he cried, she heard him roll over but couldn't see him, his bed obstructed by a large felt wall. Ben walked back through the room, seeming like he was looking for a shirt as he pawed through the mess that the three boys had made throughout the room. "Kinda gross huh?" Ben asked as he walked to the couch, revealing his flat stomach with no abs, which Jess thought was better than any six pack she had ever seen.

She stepped back a little as he came to face where she was standing, trying to keep herself hidden, before she realised she was being a creeper and she should move, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't bare to bring herself to pull away from the door. She heard Hal shush them and grinned, trying not to laugh at his annoyed voice and looked back to Ben and his brother, "some of the other kids you were with said that their spikes were going away." the little one said, seeming a little sad.

Ben sighed, trying to hold his anger in at that fact as he pawed through the clothes, now reaching into a backpack. "I know… mine aren't." he whispered, looking down and sighing, "maybe it's because the others weren't there as long as me and Rick." The little boy stepped closer, "do they still hurt?" he asked, reaching out as if he wanted to touch one and then, thinking better of it, moved his hand away before Ben turned around. "Not so much now, sometimes i'll forget they're even there, and then i'll lean on something the wrong way or bang into something and-" he cut himself off and smiled, looking down at his bag again as he found his shirt - which Jess wasn't too happy about.

"Can I touch one?" his brother asked timidly. Ben looked a little confused and turned, "sure?" he said, drawing out the word a little. The boy reached forward to touch one, and Jess watched in horror as Ben began to writhe in pain, standing up and breathing heavily, hands on his knees. Jess was ready to run into the room to help and oust herself, but something held her back. She watched angrily as Ben smirked and began laughing, "you jerk that wasn't funny!" he cried, Ben laughed tackling his little brother to the couch as he giggled, "sorry, couldn't help myself."

They sat on the couch together as Jess watched Ben start talking about the skitters and his time there as his little brother piped up and asked him what it was like living with them. "Did they talk to you?" he asked, Ben shook his head slowly, "not like you think… it was, you don't exactly have your own thoughts when you're with them, it's not like you're thinking at least not the way you normally do." he stopped and looked up, Jess got a little annoyed that she could only see the back of his head but ignored it.

"It's more like someones thinking with you… um, remember when we went camping with Dad, and you weren't feeling well, you were tired and your stomach hurt. Imagine if Dad knew everything you wanted, before you even asked for it." Ben stopped and looked down at his little brother, "you must have been scared." he said, Ben sighed and put his arm around his little brother, drawing him to his side. "When the skitters first got me I was never more frightened in my entire life, but after the harness it wasn't so bad." his brother huddled closer to him, smiling a little.

"Did you miss us?" he asked, Jess looked down and away from the scene, feeling tears pool in her eyes at the amount that that little boy couldn't comprehend, he was so innocent it made Jess' heart ache for the things he would find out as he got older. "I don't know." Ben said, drawing her attention back to the scene, "In some.. bizzaro, alien way… I think the skitters actually cared about us you know? They weren't monsters, they were our family. I know it sounds weird but… sometimes I still miss that." he whispered, rubbing circles on the boys arm.

Jess turned away, sighing deeply as she sat down on the couch in her own room, pulling her knees up to her chest and debating whether or not to walk into the room and talk to Ben. She felt a small tap on her shoulder and turned to see Lia lying on the bed next to hers, a pile of blankets laid over her head to hide herself as she tried to sleep. Jess jumped and smiled down at her sister, feeling a little guilty about this morning. "You feeling better?" Jess asked her sister, staring at the mop of blonde hair jutting out from random bits of the blanket, trying not to laugh.

Lia groaned a little, "not really, but I'm gonna push through, it should be gone by the time I wake up. You make sure that if you get the withdrawal too you'll tell me, right squirt?" she whispered, taking her hand the sleeve having ridden up a little to expose the veins on her skin, Jess winced at the pet name but nodded, knowing that she wouldn't be able to keep it from Lia anyways. She looked down at her sister and tightened her hands around Lia's, "so you and Hal huh?" she whispered cheekily, making a bright red blush splash its way onto LIa's face as she turned and buried her head into the pillow, a loud groan bubbling out of her throat.

"First stop sentry duty, next stop… and Lia's got herself a boyfriend!" Jess cried, hearing laughter from the other room, Lia grabbed the pillow from under her head and whacked Jess around the head with it, making her fall back onto the bed, holding her stomach as she burst out laughing, Lia pulling the pillow off her and putting it back over her head, Jess' laughter went on for a while until it died out, realising Lia was asleep as she sat up and looked around the room, her breath stopping short when she saw Ben standing at the door with a small smile on his face.

Her grin faltered for a second as a blush rose to his cheeks at being caught, "hey…" he whispered, looking a little embarrassed, "Hi…" she replied, standing and brushing her jeans off she walked out the door, motioning for him to follow her as she nodded her head at the sleeping figure of her sister. He followed her out into the courtyard where Ben's younger brother was playing soccer with some younger children, "nice kick Matt!" he called, smiling back at the boy, so his name was Matt… cute.

They sat down underneath a tree, Jess making sure to sit in the sun laying out and staring at the leaves above her. "I'm sorry for running off." she whispered, her eyes closing so she wouldn't have to see the worry on Ben's face, she heard his sigh and felt him lie down next to her, the electricity crackling between their arms, laying no more than 5 centimetres away form each other. "It must have been for a good reason…" he whispered, trailing off and turning his head to look at her, the bright blue of her eyes shaded from his view.

"I just…" she stopped, realising she was about to let out something big about herself to a complete stranger. "After the Skitters, I get scared of anything to do with Hospitals… or injections." Ben nodded, she could hear the movement against the grass next to her, "and Anne… well." Jess stopped and sucked in a deep breath, feeling the dull ache in her chest come rushing back, like a reopened wound. "My mother and father were killed when the Skitters came for us, and Anne reminds me of her. More than anyone I've seen, same eyes, same smile… same aura. It's unnerving to me because I _watched_ my Mother die. And now she's standing right in front of me you know?" she heaved a huge sigh, forcing herself to talk around the lump in her throat.

"It's gonna get harder from here on out. And I'm not looking forward to it." she whispered, fingers tightening in the grass underneath her.


	6. Chapter 6

Lia looked around as she stood outside. It had been four days since Anne had been attacked and Jess had gone running off after the man who had stolen off her, and the man that had saved them - Clayton his name was - had told them that his entire division had been killed, and the kids had been stolen. He had also mentioned that a small reconnaissance team consisting of one skitter and one mech, which had come through before, and a week later the 7th mass had been decimated.

The 2nd mass had begun preparations against the attack, turning over cars and stringing together barbed wire in order to stop the mechs from getting too close. She sighed, turning around and walking back into the school, trying to avoid the thoughts that if the skitters saw her they'd try to take Jess and herself back. She kept walking for what seemed like ages before Hal stopped her, calling her name, she felt her heartbeat pick up and her hands became slightly sweaty as she turned around and met the smiling boy who she had taken such a liking to.

They had grown closer in the week that Lia had been here, Weave had named them partners, she hadn't brought anything up about 'Karen' but she knew that it was a touchy subject, especially if Anne was warning him to sort out his feelings before doing anything with herself. She smiled brightly as he approached, before blowing her blonde fringe out of her face angrily, to which Hal laughed at. "Shut it." she said, shoving him a little, he just laughed and shook his head, reaching out and pushing her fringe away from her face, gently tucking it behind her ear.

Blushing profusely she looked down, his hand still against her face. "Come with me." he said suddenly, pulling her away and outside, sitting on one of the back ovals of the school and watching the sun sink further into the horizon. She knew what he wanted her to say, and she didn't know if she was ready to say it. "It's been a week." he whispered, turning to look at her. She sighed deeply, nodding and smiling a little, "I still cant believe yo remembered." she whispered, shivering a little and drawing her knees up.

He sighed, "I like you… so I want to know more." he said, she blushed and smiled, pressing her face into her knees, "But it's more than that, you seem on edge all the time, like you're waiting for something to happen or for something to pop out and grab you." she winced, thinking back to all the times Hal had to grab her to steady her racing heart whenever someone came around the corner, or when someone would ask her why she was in the hospital, she knew people were beginning to get curious, especially about Jess, who was always looking around nervously and pulling down her sleeves, and had run after a man with a gun with no second thoughts when she was only 15. And then there was her friendship with Ben.

Lia smiled to herself, loving the fact that Jess had finally found someone who could at least sympathise with her, Jess needed someone who she could run to when she wasn't around. "I know… I just, if I tell you this I cant help feeling like you'll treat me differently, you're going to hate me I just know it." her voice broke on the last syllable, and before she knew it her tearstained face was being pressed into Hal's strong shoulder. She felt her heartbeat speed up and butterflies rise in her stomach as she clenched her hand around his t-shirt, this was all she had ever wanted - a nice, handsome boy who she could run to, who she could lean on, but she couldn't want what she'd never had… right?

"I can _promise_ you" he began fiercely, "that I will _never_ think of you differently and I will never hate you Lia, you're funny and smart, kick ass with a gun" she laughed at that, trying to forget the tears. "And you're beautiful." he whispered, looking down at her, she drew in a short breath in surprise, before she looked up at him. _Karen?_ her mind whispered,_ has he forgotten her?_ She smiled shyly, looking back down as he smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "you're not so bad yourself Mason." she whispered into his neck, feeling him shiver at her words.

"But… I have to ask." Lia whispered, laying her hand flat against his chest, feeling the corded muscle there. "Karen?" he whispered, pain very evident in his voice, she bit her lip and nodded. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay." she whispered, looking up at him and at the deep blue eyes filled with agony, her words were torturing her she could see the inner debate as he questioned whether or not to tell her. "I want to… it's best if you know." he whispered, she began to pull away so they could talk properly, but he pulled her closer, laying down on the grass, staring at the now dark sky.

She smiled and pressed herself closer to him, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and softly stroking her hair, while he entwined their fingers on his stomach. Lia smiled to herself, knowing that she felt more comfortable right here with Hal then she did anywhere else in the world. "Karen was my girlfriend, we um… we were close, I thought we were in love but really all I knew was that I cared about her a lot, she was perfect to me. But when we went to try to grab Ben for the first time she was taken by the Mechs, I have no idea where she is now, or what they've done to her." Lia sighed, squeezing his hand as his voice became strained. "I'm sorry." she whispered, she felt him smile.

"When she was first taken, I thought I was going insane. I felt her everywhere, saw her face in such tiny things, even heard her _laugh_ in the mess hall once. And then." he stopped, tensing a little, debating on whether he should tell her or not. "And then?" she prompted, feeling his hand tighten around hers once more. He sighed deeply, "and then I saw you in that hospital, scalpel dug into you bone and yet you were still moving around, forcing yourself to undo the cuffs, even pull that damned thing out of your leg… which was still a bad idea by the way." she giggled, rolling her eyes slightly to try and mask the fact that her heart was desperately trying to break out of her chest.

"I thought you were-" he was cut off by a girl's voice, yelling for Lia. "Jess!" she screamed, panic taking hold of her system, "Lia!" came the voice, Lia scrambled up, helped by Hal who was looking worried and slightly upset. She ran to where the voice was coming from, ignoring the fact that her veins had begun to light up slightly, the blue pushing forward on her bare arm. "Jess." she whispered, taking her face in her hands and turning it, looking for any signs that the withdrawal was coming.

"It's fine.. I'm fine." she whispered as Hal came up behind them. "Ben's been looking for you Hal, we've been looking for the both of you. You should come to the gym, I think there's something you might wanna hear." she whispered, Lia sighed deeply as Jess walked away, sending a small wink in Lia's direction. Her heart began to calm down, "you were frantic… what happened?" Hal asked, turning her to face his eyes. "I'm sorry." she whispered, feeling the lump rise in her throat before she could stop it, and soon she was bawling.

Hal pulled her into his chest and put his chin on top of her head, stroking her back lightly. "It's like you said Hal… I'm always waiting for something, but i'm not so worried about the skitters coming to take us back. I'm worried about the second mass ousting us as freaks. I'm forever waiting for the experiment to come to light through Jess." she pulled away and wiped her eyes, ignoring his confused face and pulled him away towards the gym to find out what was so important.

"This is a temporary measure!" Clayton was saying when Hal and Lia finally stepped into the gym, they pushed through the crowd to get through to Ben and Jess, who were standing very close to one another, arms brushing and throwing glances at each other every so often. "How cute" Lia whispered to Hal, who winked and smiled at the two, who nodded back. "Until what? We're attacked?" Mike said, stepping forward. "Then what Terry?" another man stepped forward, moving into Clayton's face.

"Yeah! Do you think the Skitters are just gonna give us a pass!" he yelled, Tom Mason stepped forward before it could get out of hand. "Hey!" he yelled, pulling the other man out of the way of Clayton, "hey whats going on?" he said, looking between Clayton and Mike. The man took a deep breath and turned to look at the crowd of civilians and fighters who were standing and watching the exchange. "I know that a lot of you have lost your children… don't think my heart doesn't break for you, but think for a moment, if you had your children, would you let _anyone_ take them away from you?" he cried, "Hey!" Tom said, "that hasn't been decided yet" he looked to Clayton and pointed, almost like he was telling him to back down.

"Everybody here wants the same thing, our kids to be safe." Tom said, the man scrunched up his face. "They'll never be safe, safe is over!" the man cried, Lia saw Jess reach down and take Ben's hand as his face became pained, Ben smiled at Jess slightly as if to say thank you and squeezed her hand back. Hal was looking at the man seriously, as if trying to make a decision on what to do. "We could die any day." Lia tensed at this, thinking back to the threats of the overlords.

Hal felt her tense and moved closer to her, taking her hand and rubbing circles into her palm, making her calm instantly, she smiled her thanks. "And if that day comes… i'm gonna be by my daughters side." Tom shook his head, "I don't want anyone to die, this is about what it's going to take to survive." the man man shook his head and moved his hand to the knife in his pocket. "Yeah? Well I swear to God, if anyone tries to take my little girl." Tom grabbed his hand, pushing the weapon back away. "Don't you forget who the enemy is here!" he whispered angrily, staring into the mans eyes with such emotion that he backed down and nodded.

"Everyone here has had to make hard choices just to make it this far. And we're gonna make more." Jess and Lia tensed at the same time, both remembering exactly the same thing. The Mason boys looked at the girl confusedly, but didn't say anything. "But if we fall apart now, and keep turning on each other, then it doesn't matter when the attack comes, because we've already lost." the man shook his head, "and whose going to decide what happens if they do attack? Weaver?" he asked, Tom shook his head. "No, I will."

Jess and Ben walked away quickly, but Lia lingered, studying the faces of the people who could ultimately lead to her death. Shaking her head she tried to push away the feeling that Clayton was bad news, she knew he wasn't here because of the reason he said, he had something to do with the Skitters. His eyes turned to meet hers before they widened in shock, his mouth whispered the words 'Lia Morgan.' That was all she needed, she let go of Hal's hand and sprinted from the room, punching it to go after Jess.

_They were all going to die_.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm so sorry for the late update :| At least I think it's late... anyways enjoy the Hal X Lia in this chapter, I might upload the next chapter, cause I'm looking forward to you guys catching a glimpse into what the Skitters did to Lia and Jess :P**

**XX Ellie**

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Lia awoke the next morning with a dreaded feeling in her stomach, the skitter had come during the night, and Jimmy had almost been killed. She knew that a decision about whether or not to move the children was going to be made today, and she knew that if Jess had to go, she went too.

She walked out into the mess hall, when she spotted Hal, who waved her over, smiling slightly. "Jimmy alright?" she asked as she walked over, Hal nodded, "should be." he replied, "Dr Glass managed to snap him out of it, so he should be alright for now." Lia looked over to where Jess and Ben were standing, looking over the food for breakfast and smiling at each other, laughing when someone threw a joke or said something stupid. She then saw a man push Ben slightly and say a few words.

"I'm not standing in line with this razorback and his friend, ones like him are the reason the skitters are coming." he said, anger coarsed through Lia's system as she moved away from Hal, only to have him grab her. "Where are you going?" he asked, "to save your brothers neck before Jess squishes that moron into a pancake." she said, pushing her gun further up her back and walking over to the man, shoving him away slightly. "Take what you want and go." she whispered to Ben, who nodded sadly and took Jess' hand to hold her back.

A crowd had gathered as Lia shoved the guy again. "I'd suggest you move away from my sister and her friend. If you know whats good for you." she whispered menacingly, knowing she could squish this guy like a pancake. "Why? This razorback doesn't deserve to stand with us is all i'm saying." Lia shoved him again, harder this time so he fell back a few steps. "These 'razorbacks' as you so stupidly called them, are human too you wanker, Ben and my sister have suffered through something that your fat redneck ass can only _dream_ about, so I'd suggest you get over your fear of a few spikes, and fuck off. Because when Dr. Glass gets the meds she needs, we're gonna be bringing them _all_ back." the mans face screwed up in anger at her words, and made to step forward.

She pointed her gun at him, "anyone that messes with my family or the Masons should know by now that they're gonna get a few bullets to the behind. Got it?" she snapped, the guys face turned fearful and he turned away, muttering something about 'country bumpkin Australians'

More anger surged in Lia. "What was that about my country!" she screamed, the guy turned around eyes wide. "I may be from Australia _mate_, but that doesn't mean that I'm any less a part of the second mass. The same thing happened to me too. So I'd suggest that since America was a place filled with idiots and rednecks who were too stupid to realise what was going on around them, you take a trip to Australia when this is all over… might smarten you up a bit." the guy turned around again, shaking his head, but didn't say anything.

She felt a hand on her shoulder but shook it off, not wanting to punch Hal in the face, she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her anger. When she turned she saw Ben walking away and out the door to the gym. "I'm sorry." Lia whispered to Hal, who was grinning like a madman. "Just… say mate one more time?" he asked, a smile cracked on Lia's face at his joke but she shook her head, "you Rednecks are all the same." she said, winking. She didn't mean anything that she had said about America, she knew that the places she had seen were quite lovely, but sometimes you gotta hit a stereotype with a stereotype.

Lia shook her head and grabbed some food, sitting down next to Hal and talking about meaningless nonsense for hours, cleaning their guns and talking some more, until Tom walked in. Lia looked up, knowing that Ben had gone to Tom and told him that he wanted to go with Clayton. "Everybody?" he called, scratching his chin and looking around, they all stood and walked closer to him, and even though Lia knew what Tom was going to say, it still shocked her a little.

"I've decided to send Matt and Ben along with Clayton. Jess will be going too. It'll put our kids a few hours ahead of whatever coming and that'll be good for them." he said, looking at Lia. She smiled and nodded, knowing that it was for the best if Jess were to go, she would be with a friend she would be safe, and Lia wouldn't have to constantly worry about her. "The 3rd Mass should be here by tomorrow night, and if everything goes as planned, then we should be reuniting with our kids as soon as possible." Lia nodded again, feeling Hal's hand slide over hers and grip it tightly, the nervousness must have found it's way onto her face, but she welcomed Hal's hand, blushing slightly when she felt his calloused hand over hers.

Lia detached herself from the conversation as the man who had caused controversy over the kids last night stepped out again, conversing with Clayton. Lia really didn't care what he had to say, she knew that Jess would be safe as long as she was far away, but she still couldn't shake the feeling in her stomach that sending Jess with Clayton was a _bad_ idea, she didn't know what… just something about him screamed untrustworthy, the same feeling she got around the skitters.

"O'Brien, Fuller. You'll be going with them." Tom said, pointing to the two men. Lia knew that Tom meant to send them as a security measure, although it didn't make her feel any better, even when Clayton piped up and asked if Mike could come too. "We know that the skitters aren't after the youngest ones. The rest will go with them because our kids are our future and their safety has got to come first. So pack 'em up, they leave in an hour." Tom turned and walked out of the hall as it burst into noise, conversations piping up everywhere.

"Hey." Hal whispered, standing up and coming to stand in-between her legs, she shifted slightly on the table but didn't look up at him as a terrible feeling began gnawing at her chest. "Lia… look at me." he said softly, using his free hand to pull her chin up to meet his eyes, instantly butterflies attacked her stomach and fire spread through her veins at his touch on her soft skin, a traitorous crimson spread across her cheeks but she forced herself to hold his dark gaze. "Are you…" he paused, leaning a little closer, "are you sure you're okay?" he whispered, she bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes never leaving his.

"I've got this terrible feeling Hal. Like something bad's going to happen to Jess if she goes with Clayton, but my minds telling me that what Tom said is true… if a skitter attack _was_ to come, then she would be in serious danger… she can fight, much better than all the fighters in the second mass, so can I. It's just that I don't _want_ her to put herself into a position where she has to fight, because the only reason she's even standing today is because of the skitters… and god do they want their experiments back."

She took a deep breath and fought back the tears that pooled in her eyes and pressed her head into Hal's shoulder. His body jumped in shock, but he wound one arm around her waist, stepping closer and hugging her tightly, while the other remained tightly joined with her own hand, squeezing it gently against the tears that were slowly slipping out of her eyes. "I'm going with them." she said suddenly, thinking back to the promise that she had made Jess when they had made it out of the hospital.

Hal pulled back and stared her in the eyes, his levelled and serious gaze boring into her very soul, before he spoke very quietly. "If you're going, I'm going too." he whispered, her heart leapt in her chest and a huge grin spread across her face. She couldn't believe that this boy, the only boy who had ever truly seen her for what she was, was willing to follow her away from his Father and friends in the second mass, all to support her and comfort her. In that moment she vowed she would do everything in her power to make sure that Ben was protected, and that Matt would never _ever_ come to an ounce of harm.

"Thank you." she whispered, kissing his cheek and letting him lead her out of the gym, hands still entwined as they went on a hunt for a change of clothes and supplied needed for the journey ahead of them.

They arrived out the front of the school an hour later, Hal quickly rushing over to Ben, Lia watched as Ben handed him a photo before Hal smirked and handed him the photo back, before punching his shoulder lightly and walking off, Ben smiling brilliantly at his brothers back, before Hal took her hand and pulled her away, leading her out the front to find Jess, who was kneeling down next to Matt and speaking soft words as the smaller boy nodded, wiping his tears and giggling as Jess tickled him.

Lia noticed the smile on Hals face, and the admiration as well as something else that was etched into Ben's face, who had come to stand next to them to watch Jess. Matt turned and saw his father walking across the yard, throwing himself into his arms. Lia turned back around to see Jess standing in front of her, sadness in her eyes. "You know I could stay and help right?" Jess whispered, watching as Hal and Ben took their leave, walking away to their father. Lia turned back, nodding slightly. "I know you can Jess, but I'm gonna do anything and everything in my power to keep you from using any more of that stuff than you have to, I don't want them to find you either, thats a chance I can't take." she said, brushing a strand of golden hair away from Jess' eyes, watching as her blue orbs slipped from her own and dropped to the floor, kicking absentmindedly at a small rock embedded the grass.

"Which is why I'm coming with you." Lia said cheekily. Jess' eyes shot up and a huge grin spread across her face, and before Lia knew what was going on, Jess had thrown herself into Lia's arms, her blonde hair brushing her mouth as she hugged the life out of her sister. "Calm down squirt." Lia said, smiling and hugging her back tightly. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, you're not getting rid of me that easily." Jess burst out laughing but didn't say anything, just hugged the life out of her sister before dropping back to the ground and walking off to take Ben's hand as the kids were told they were rolling out.

"She took that well." Hal said, appearing beside her. Lia jumped, but nodded and turned her head to look at the taller boy. "Yeah… I'm glad she did. I can't have anything happen to her, she's the only family I've got left." she whispered, taking Hal's hand and leading them to the back of the convoy, waving goodbye to Doctor Glass, who was waving frantically at the two of them, before they waved to Tom, who smiled and waved back, giving Hal a pointed glance before looking at their joined hands. Lia blushed but didn't say anything, just turned and faced the front as Hal chuckled and leaned down to kiss her cheek, her face heating up instantly.

She knew that when they arrived she was bound to spill her secrets.


	8. Chapter 8

Lia knew something was definitely up when they arrived and the inhabitants of Clayton's ranch house - as amazing as it was - everyone was lined up outside and staring at them like they were pieces of meat. "I don't like this." she whispered to Hal, looking around at everyone. The sun was setting but they made it through the crowd of people and stopped as Clayton turned around, although Lia kept a firm hold of her gun. "Alright!" Clayton called, drawing her attention from the crowd of people and towards the man she didn't trust, though she knew she should.

"Good work everyone. Lets get everyone into bed and we'll do the tour in the morning." he said, leading everyone inside and up the stairs into a room set up with different beds, mattresses and sleeping bags. Lia huffed a sigh and waited for everyone to fall asleep before she stood quietly and attached her pistols to her waist and walked outside, nodding slightly to the guard and went to sit down at the bottom of the hill so she was obscured from the guards view, and laid up looking at the stars.

She was finding it harder and harder to sleep as the nights passed in the second mass, nightmares about the time they had spent with the skitters was coming back to haunt her, although they mostly ended with Hal ending her torture and carrying her out of that hell, but sometimes - and these were the worst ones - they ended with Hal _trying _to save her and getting captured himself, before he was killed in front of her… those were the hardest to get through, she would lie in the middle of the night, shaking violently and sweating like crazy, tears streaming down her face before she would force herself back to sleep.

She jumped slightly when a soft voice came from behind her. "Can't sleep?" She turned, knowing the owner of the voice very well. "Haven't been able to for a while." she said to him, watching as Hal laid down beside her and instinctively drew her onto his chest, wrapping his strong arms around her waist. "Not since I left the hospital." she whispered, trying to fight back the involuntary shiver and failing dismally. "You ready to talk about it?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.

Her heart began pounding erratically in her chest, her palms becoming sweaty and hot as she realised that she was ready to tell him, the only one in the world besides Jess… and possibly Ben, to know what happened behind the closed doors of the hospital. She took a deep breath and took his hand for support, before launching into her depressing tale.

"The skitters took us early, at the very beginning of the invasion. Even though Jess was deathly sick they realised that we had skill, and that we had human qualities that made us a good choice for the experiment. They had tried before on other… random kids, and they had all failed. I was with my parents when it happened, watching Jess play the piano when they burst in, the skitters grabbed us straight away and forced us to watch the mechs tear our parents apart." Lia's voice became thick and tears began to silently roll down her cheeks, Hal tightened his grip on her but didn't say anything, and for that she was grateful.

"They took us straight onto the mothership… the most god awful thing I thought I was going to experience." she laughed without finding anything funny, "how wrong I was." tightening his grip on Hal's hand she began to talk about her experience. "They split us up, I remember screaming and screaming for Jess until I started coughing up blood, even when they tied me down onto a table I didn't stop screaming, it was impossible for me to stop. I could hear the screams of other children as they were injected, and it scared me to death, I was sure I was going to die, I was so incredibly sure and I hoped and prayed that I would at least get to see Jess again before it happened.

"So when they stuck the needle into my wrist I started thrashing around, I had no idea what was going into that stupid needle and I was terrified out of my mind when I saw how _blue_ the liquid was… I didn't think i'd seen anything like it in my life, it seemed like it was alive the way it moved and spun, like a tiny ocean I remember thinking, but it wasn't as harmless as the ocean. The liquid set my veins on fire… set my whole body on fire. It was like no pain i'd ever experienced, I was pretty sure that being dropped into a vat of acid would hurt less than the feeling of this injection… I remember seeing white spots and suddenly there was blood _everywhere_, dripping from my eyes and nose, trickling out of my mouth… I almost choked on my own blood it was coming so fast, and all because of the injection. The skitters didn't seem to think anything of it though, it must have been normal for them to see a kid dying.

"I blacked out, and they probably thought I was dead, but I woke up a few hours later still tied to the table, although everything had been removed. I could still hear the screams of the kids in the rooms next to me, but it all seemed… intensified, I could hear screaming from the other side of the ship, hear the conversations the skitters were having in their minds and even feel my own heartbeat hammering against my chest. I think the most painful thing was hearing the screams and then listening to them as they were cut short, dying in the throats of the dead children, they hadn't managed to get the dosage of the liquid right yet, it was trial and error. And I was their first success.

"I knew I was in danger from the moment i woke up, a skitter had come in to check on my body and was scared out of his mind to find me awake. Jess was led in some time later, her arm was glowing even brighter than mine, spreading at an alarming rate through her system. Her veins were more pronounced than mine… you could see the blue liquid shining through her blood system, eating its way through her cells and pushing its way to the forefront of her skin."

Lia pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and listened to Hal's quiet gasp as she concentrated and the blue veins lit up like christmas. He sat up fully, bringing her with him and took her hand gently. "So the liquid did this to you?" he whispered softly, running his finger up a single line, staring in shock at the lines running and spiderwebbing their way around the circumference of her arm, stopping at the joint of her elbow. She nodded slowly, looking away from his face. "They knew we had something special after that and transported us straight to the hospital, using our love for each other against one another. The skitters masters had designed programs for the children who were to survive, they shot at us, threw knives, fired mechs beat us and pushed us to the limits before we were finally broken, I cracked and broke down. I'd had been tortured beyond belief, they liked to cut lines into my skin and stab me, only to find that it would heal a few days later, much quicker than any human. We were incredibly fast and strong and could run for miles without stopping. But all through it all I remember was the constant pain, the sounds of the other children in the hospital dying as they screamed, the feeling of knives cutting my body if I was too slow, and mech bullets tearing me apart if I didn't get out of the way.

"They liked to see us in pain, and they liked to torture us… and I cant imagine why, I tried my hardest to protect Jess and always stepped in when they went to torture her. I took double punishments in order to set her free, and they used that against me, knowing that I would always step in if she were to ever get hurt, so they made it easier to give her punishments, sometimes up to 10 times a day so I would have to take constant beatings and extended practice, running me hard and pushing me to my limits in order to gain a reaction, but I never used my abilities against them, not once, I never fought back and learned to contain my screams and profanities and they beat me harder, not getting the right amount of satisfaction out of it before they put me away for the night, like a child's toy, broken and battered, torn and ripped until it was no longer recognisable. I honestly had no idea what I was anymore… _who _I was, I felt like I was going insane."

Lia stopped and took a deep breath, looking into Hal's eyes. "And then you showed up… like an angel out of heaven, god I don't think i'd ever been glad to see anyone more in my entire life, a boy _unharnessed_ and alive and well, it was like something out of a dream, I thought they'd stuck me on something. But you took me away from that place Hal, and I can't thank you enough for that… I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for getting us out of there." he smiled at her and took her hand again.

"I'd go anywhere for you. I'll make sure they _never_ get their hands on you or Jess again. They'll never have you back, I promise." Hal said fiercely, frightening even her with his furious eyes and loud statements. She blushed and looked down, knowing that her story was over and he didn't think any less of her for it. "When you first told me that you'd tell me if you were still here in a week, I knew that it was something bad, and I knew that you were thinking that it would change my opinion of you… but I can tell you now, honestly Lia. That I have never _ever_ thought more of a person than I do about you now." her eyes shot up, blonde curls bouncing as she stared at Hal's dark eyes. "You're so incredibly brave and loyal to do that for your sister and to take all those beatings just so she wouldn't have to… it's the bravest thing I've ever heard or seen anyone do."

He paused and took a deep breath, staring into her eyes, before reaching up and brushing her hair out of her face, his hand lingering on her cheek before brushing his hand down to her neck, curling around the soft skin there and pulling her closer to him slowly. Lia took a deep breath, knowing full well what was about to happen, and she welcomed it, knowing she had wanted it for a while now.

She wound her arms around his neck and crushed her lips to his, rushing forward to meet him as his arms locked around her waist. She melted into his arms, pressing herself flush against his body, relishing in the feeling of his strong arms cradling her as he deepened the kiss, his mouth opening hers and slipping his tongue in, both of them relishing in the taste of unfamiliar territory as they both kissed in the darkness, relishing in the feeling of burning they got from each other, feeling the fire that their hands on each others skin brought.

His hands slipped under her shirt and began rubbing circles onto her bare back as she sighed in containment, drawing back for breath before slamming her lips back onto his, smiling into the kiss as he moaned in appreciation.

Yeah… she could definitely get used to this feeling…


	9. Chapter 9

Jess watched as the others played football, running around and kicking goals as they screamed to each other in utter joy. One thing she did notice however was that Ben was being unfairly excluded by Jimmy, which brought up such a rage in her that she wanted to get up and slam Jimmy in the face for it… but she knew more than anything that it was the withdrawal symptoms speaking more than her own mind. She had also noticed - and she was very smug about this fact - the new relationship between Hal and Lia.

They were always a tight knit pair, but they were much closer now, sneaking glances when they thought the other wasn't watching and holding each other for much longer than friends would, Jess even thought she saw Hal kiss Lia in the morning before anyone else had gotten up, but she was half asleep at the time and didn't think anything of it. She was happy for the pair, but all it did was make her more lonely - she thought she was being stupid she was only 15 after all, what 15 year old needs or understands love? But the thing was, she didn't want it with just anyone… she wanted Ben.

Sighing as the game ended, Jess looked down and blushed as Ben met her eyes. Ben and her had gotten to become really close friends, he didn't know about her and Lia's past, but he did know her as a person and he wasn't judgemental, he just like Jess because she was Jess. She heard someone sit down beside her and let out a huge breath, turning she saw Ben smiling at her. "You should have come and played" he said, before he laid back down on the ground and stared at the side of her face.

Sighing deeply, Jess leaned back as well, smiling as she felt Ben's hand wrap around hers and then confusion as her heartbeat sped up, he was holding the hands with the veins, and he hadn't even flinched. "I don't know how to play." she whispered softly, thinking back to the amount of time she had spent inside the hospital. "I was sick as a kid so I didn't get to go outside much… didn't have any friends other than Lia." she whispered, feeling Ben's hand clench tighter around hers.

"I noticed that Jimmy wasn't being to polite though." she whispered, seeing Ben's face drop. "Yeah." he sighed, turning his head away. "It's cause of my spikes." he whispered as he looked up at the sky, shading his eyes slightly. She turned to look at him, "it shouldn't matter to anyone." she said angrily, "I know they're there and I don't give a damn do I?" Ben smiled slightly to him self and nodded, "although we're both products of the skitters, yours isn't easier to hide, but it's still easier than me. It sticks out of my back." he sighed and looked down as Jess raised her hand to his back.

"You don't mind?" she asked softly, staring at the raised spikes that jutted angrily out of his skin, Ben shook his head and turned his eyes to hers and kept the eye contact as her small hand brushed over the winced slightly at the contact, "sorry!" Jess exclaimed, panicking and worrying that she had somehow hurt him. Ben raised his eyes to meet hers again and shook his head, "It didn't hurt." he whispered, "you just shocked me is all." She felt an undeniable pull towards Ben and watched as his handsome face was brought closer, his hand clenched around hers tightly and gave it a reassuring squeeze as their noses touched.

Jess let out a nervous breath and fought back the shaking in her hands as she realised what was going to happen, and if she was being honest with herself… she wanted it to happen, she'd had a crush on Ben for a while and wanted him to like her back more than anything, he was kind and caring and he didn't care about the skitters and their experiments on her, he just saw her as Jess - the slightly shy girl who played piano and got mad when someone insulted her family or friends, she could feel him breathing heavily as their lips got closer and closer.

"Ben! Jess! Dinner!" came the loud call, Jess and Ben jumped away from each other like they had been shocked, though Jess felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment as she stood and turned to look at Hal's smirking face across the grounds, her and Ben had been the only ones left out on the grass, everyone else must have been inside, Jess shoved Hal aside and ignored his questions as she fought back the tears in her eyes and the anger that she felt towards Hal, Ben probably had felt sorry for her… that was all, he didn't care about her and she was just some stupid girl who was giving herself away freely again, she wouldn't go through any of it all over again.

She walked inside and threw herself down into her chair, ignoring Lia's questioning look from across the table and trying not to move over as Ben sat down next to her. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn't say anything, just stared down at the plate and slowly began taking bites, ignoring the conversation around her as she tried to focus on the food that had no taste and the juice that she couldn't even feel in her throat. She finally came back to reality when Rick threw his fork down and shoved away his food, Jess' head shot up to stare at him in utter shock. "How can you eat their food?" he whispered, staring directly at Ben with such emotion and confusion that she almost jumped over the table to slam Rick into the floor, she was endangering Ben's safety by being with him… but then again so was Rick.

"And you and your sister? Why haven't you gone back home? You eat their food and talk like them but you _know_ that they're the ones that kept you alive." Ricks words rung in the air like a slap to her face, she felt betrayed by the boy and trying to ignore the stares of the people in the room, pulled her jacket down again and shoved away from the table, trying to keep her undeniable anger under control as she walked up the stairs to their rooms, hastily wiping away traitorous tears as she sat on the window seat and hugged her knees to her chest.

She _hated_ the skitters for what they had done to her and Lia, she hated them so much she felt the reverberations to her very core and she knew that if she ever met the skitter that had injected her, she'd shove a knife down its throat before it could even blink, even though the skitters 'venom' as they called it had saved her miserable life and led her to Ben, she wished that her life hadn't had come at such a high price - she never believed that her life would be worth so much or that the Skitters would go to such lengths to acquire her.

She heard a small cough behind her and turned, ignoring the fact that she could feel the tears sliding down her face as she laid eyes on Ben. She tried to stand up hastily but failed, her legs getting caught underneath her as Ben walked forward and pushed her back down, "don't" he whispered, "don't worry about me." she whispered, scrubbing at her cheeks with the arm of her jumper to rid her skin of the salty tears that she could still taste in her mouth. She turned and put her cheek to her knees, trying to ignore the embarrassment at Ben catching her crying and pushing away the stirring in her stomach that Ben always started whenever he was around.

"Talk to me." Ben whispered, sitting down beside her and putting his hand on her bare shoulder, her jumper slightly askew from running. She turned to face him and stared into his eyes, his hand on her skin set her body on fire, a slow wildfire that spread out from his hand and through her whole body and all the way down to the tips of her toes, he looked at her in surprise as her eyes met his - though his eyes mirrored her own feelings, they both needed each other to get through the pain of the world and he was just as scared as she was about their feelings.

"Rick said that the Skitters saved your life?" Ben whispered, putting his arm around her shoulders and drawing her to his chest. She sighed and felt her heartbeat speed up at the feeling of his own heartbeat next to her ear, this boy was turning her carefully constructed walls inside out and upside down… she didn't know what was going on with her feelings anymore, but she liked it. Then her mind jutted back to Ben's words and she knew that she couldn't tell him, she wouldn't lose him yet if she had anything to do with it.

"It's nothing." she whispered, clenching his shirt in her hand as they laid there. "Are you sure?" he whispered, she nodded and pressed herself closer to him. "I really like you Jess." he whispered softly after a few minutes of silence, Jess' heart sped up as she turned to look up at him, fire raced across her skin and bubbled in her heart because she never believed that she could ever be this happy again. She bit down on her lip to stop herself from saying anything rash, but she went and blurted it out anyways - as was her custom. "I really _really_ like you Ben." she whispered pulling herself up so that their faces were level.

His eyes lit up like christmas as she spoke and a grin worked its way across his face as he bent down and finally pressed his soft lips against hers. She gasped at the initial contact she felt like a lightning bolt had struck her, Ben must have felt the same as they both gasped and clawed for each other, wanting to be as close as possible. She pressed harder against his lips as his hands came around to her lower back and gripped her waist, fingers splayed across her skin as he lifted her shirt slightly, the fire she had felt when he had been holding her was nothing compared to what she felt right now, she felt as if Ben was trying to pull her close enough to absorb her into his very being, there wasn't an inch of space left between them and yet she wanted to be closer.

They broke apart gasping for air and staring into each others eyes, Ben's pupils were dilated and his heartbeat pounded against her own chest as he hovered over her, she didn't feel them turn over at all and yet here they were, pressed against each other with their legs tangled together, she felt empty without his lips there and she desperately wanted them back. "Wow." he whispered, pushing a stray lock of hair away from her eyes as she lay panting for breath. She let loose a small chuckle and smiled, "I know." she whispered, reaching up to touch her own lips with shaking fingers, she felt like she had been reduced to a puddle of mush after such a kiss, and she hoped to god that there would be more.

There were footsteps on the staircase and the moment was shattered, Ben rolled off her and stood up, before turning his head and throwing her a cheeky smile, she burst out laughing and sat up straightening her clothes, they both knew there would be more for them later on. Hal came up the stairs with the other kids in tow, Matt instantly ran over to Jess and sat down next to her, "I'm sorry for what Rick said." Matt said, Jess smiled and hugged him tightly. "Even though you don't know what he meant?" she whispered, Matt smiled up at her and shook his cute curly head, "I know you and Ben had something done to you by the skitters. But I don't care." he said and hugged her again. Jess looked up at Ben and saw him smiling, to which she grinned back, his little brother was the best thing that could have happened to anyone, he was so innocent and sweet and didn't care about anything but what was on the inside, and that really was what she admired most about the Mason's, that they didn't care about what anyone looked like or their past, they looked for what the person was really like underneath and made a judgement on that.

She couldn't have picked a better family to aspire to.


	10. Chapter 10

Jess had trouble sleeping that night. She slept fitfully, tossing and turning through the tormented dreams that plagued her mind. She woke up with a strangled gasp as someone touched her shoulder gently, her hand locked around the persons wrist like a vice, she was slightly surprised to find that it wasn't slimy or slippery like a Skitter.

The hand she was holding onto was warm and soft, reassuring in nature as whoever it belonged to laid still. "Jess." they eventually whispered, her eyes darted up from the floor in front of her to the widened blue eyes of Ben Mason. "Sorry." she whispered shakily, pulling her hand slowly, "nightmare?" he whispered, pushing a few locks of blonde hair away from her face. She felt a fluttering in her stomach and nodded, smiling softly at him before pressing her face closer into his hand. He smiled down at her, "come on you two!" Hal whispered frantically.

Jess knew that tone, it was the tone her mother had used when they thought someone was in the house, right before the skitters had burst through the doors of their home and stolen the girls away. Jess sat up, back ruler straight as she scanned the dark room, instantly her eyes locked onto Lia quickly checking her guns and making sure the clips were full, before she turned to Jess and nodded her head.

The feelings they had were right - Clayton couldn't be trusted. Jess threw back the covers and vaulted from the bed, pulling on her boots and grabbing her guns from the floor, hooking her pistols back into the holsters and strapping the assault rifle onto her back. Ben looked at her warily, she smiled sadly, knowing that he knew she was a warrior, but now was his chance to _properly_ see it.

They all sprinted down the stairs, but were stopped by the girl that had it in for Hal, Jess smirked as she watched Lia's hand tighten around Hal's protectively. "Did you really know?" he asked, the girl looked down at her glass of water and back up to Hal. "I was going to fix it so you could stay." she whispered, looking at him pleadingly. Jess felt the bile of disgust rise in her throat, she was going to save Hal and happily leave the rest of them all to die, stupid girl, thinking that she could ever outwit the skitters, the only ones that could do that were the Overlords… and they had their day coming.

Hal shook his head in revulsion and sprinted off back down the stairs, the rest of them following suit. "Dad!" the girl screamed, "Dad they're leaving!" Jess shook her head and nudged Matt out the door, before pulling a pistol from her belt and pushing her legs to their absolute limits, ducking and holding back her fear as a spray of bullets rained around her, one managed to clip her arm but that was it.

Panting she dived around the back of a pick up truck and saw Mike. He glanced at her quickly and nodded, looking down to Rick. Jess instantly got his meaning and turned, firing to cover Rick as he ran to Hal and Ben, both who were staring worriedly at her. "Go." Mike said to her, staring down seriously at the young girl. Her eyes widened, realising instantly what he planned to do. "Don't Mike." she whispered, feeling the cold hands of fear grab her throat quickly. He smiled grimly at her, "I don't know what they did to you… or to my son. But I want you to know that I don't think of you any different, and people need to know that you're nothing like them… _show_ them how human you are Jess." he said, patting her gently on the head, like he would do to Rick, and took a deep breath.

"Now run." he whispered, standing up and letting loose a yell as he let his assault rifle fly, bullets spraying at the enemy, taking down a couple. Jess heeded his warning and ran, but felt a terrible weight on her chest, she could have gotten Mike out of there, they could have all made it out. Lia grabbed her upper arm and together they sprinted away, running after Ben and Hal - who had Matt slung over his shoulder - back into the forest and away from the gunfire.

The minutes blurred into hours as they walked, and soon the sun began peeking through the trees. The skitters venom allowed her to run for great distances, but even she was beginning to feel the faint touch of fatigue. Lia took one look at the rest of the children and shook her head, moving up next to Hal, who smiled softly at her.

"We need to rest." she whispered, looking back at the kids. "They're not gonna make it much longer…" Hal turned and saw Matt fighting to keep his eyes open, Ben holding his hand to make sure he stayed upright. Hal nodded and grabbed Lia's hand, ignore the slight glare from Lourdes and turned down the driveway of a nearby house.

Jess sighed gratefully as they walked inside, Lia instantly scooped Matt up into her arms, he fell asleep instantly on her shoulder, head nestled into her neck. Jess watched Hal staring at her walking up the stairs with the other kids, a small smile on his face and adoration in his eyes. "She's something else isn't she?" Jess asked Hal, walking up next to him. He jumped and turned to her, smiling a little, "yeah… she is isn't she?" he whispered, Jess smirked, "I know something happened between you two, but I think you need to properly tell her how you feel. Ask her properly Hal… she's the type that needs a straight out question to know exactly how you feel." Hal's eyes widened at her statement, he nodded a little - more to himself than her and turned to look for food.

Jess' eyes caught Ben's, who was sitting on the couch next to Rick. A lance of hurt sprang through her chest as she stared at Rick, knowing he would feel no remorse for his Father's death, all because of the Skitter's and their idiotic experiments on innocent children. "Play something?" he asked, nodding towards the dusty grand piano sitting in front of the couches.

She nodded slightly and smiled, feeling the butterflies returning to her stomach as Ben smiled at her. Sitting down she raised the cover on the piano and hovered her fingers over the ivory keys. She felt strange, as if she had been here before, in a place like this before. She shook it off and pressed down on the keys, the soft sounds of Beethoven's 7th symphony drifting effortlessly from the piano.

She closed her eyes and let the music consume her, instantly transported back into the lounge room of her old house. _And then it hit her_. A loud banging sounded from inside her mind and the screams of her mother could be heard, Jess heard the sound of a Mech gun powering up and the deafening reverberations that came when it fired.

A loud scream tore from her throat as hands grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back and away from her dying parents. "Jess!" someone yelled in her ear, she snapped back to the present and cut her screams off, she was shaking violently and tears were streaming from her eyes, wetting her lips and stinging her cheeks. "It's only us Jess." Ben whispered, holding her closer as they lay sprawled on the ground.

"I'm sorry" she whispered in a small, childlike voice. Ben's eyes widened curiously. "What have you got to be sorry for? I was the one who asked you to play." he whispered guiltily. Jess shook her head at the boy and laid her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in his smell and focusing on that to calm her racing heart. It felt like she was never going to get past her nightmares and recollections of that night, even Lia, who was strong and brave and everything she wasn't, had nightmares about it every night, and that coupled with their time with the skitters was enough to send her to the brink of insanity.

"I cant do it Ben." she whispered, clenching her hand around his t-shirt. He looked down at her sympathetically, both of them forgetting they were in a room full of people as his hand reached up, and brushed her hair from her sweaty forehead. Her heart began pounding in her chest, but it wasn't a reaction to something frightening, it was the good kind of drumbeat, the one that played whenever she was around Ben.

"You can.. you have me, and you have Lia and Hal… and Matt." he added on as an afterthought. Jess smiled and pressed herself closer to him. "We need to warn the second mass. Those fighters aren't coming back." said a voice from behind them. Jess looked over Ben's shoulder to see Lia staring down at them with a knowing smile on her face.

"I'll go." Ben said, Hal instantly began shaking his head, Jess looked at Ben curiously, "if you go, I'm coming with." she whispered, this time Lia shook her head. "I'm not letting either of you go." Hal said, crossing his arms. Jess shot up off the ground, staring angrily at Hal. "You know what Ben and I can do. I can run for miles without stopping. It's our _only_ chance." she said, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake the kids upstairs.

Hal pursed his lips, but was interrupted by Jimmy before he could speak. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked, looking between Ben and Jess, then back to Hal. Jess crossed her arms defensively, trying not to run and hit the boy. "Why wouldn't it be?" she questioned, staring down at him. Jimmy winced but didn't back down. "You might just keep going." he said, Jess shook her head in anger, feeling the torrent bubbling in her stomach. "And where would we go?" she asked, stepping closer to him, she felt Ben's hand enclose her arm as a warning, but she ignored it.

"Back to the Skitters." he said, shrugging. "Back _home_" Jess' anger spiked at an all time high, she lunged for Jimmy but was dragged back by Ben, he held her tightly against his chest, one arm around her chest and hanging to her shoulder, the other around her waist. "Why the _hell_ would I ever want to go back to them!" she yelled, disregarding anyone that was sleeping. "You have no idea what they did to us in there! I'm going straight down that main road and back to the school! I have no desire to do anything to a Skitter but blow it's fucking brains out!" she clamped her mouth shut at her language, but her eyes were still burning blood murder.

Jimmy blinked at her in complete surprise, before he stood up slowly and cautiously walked up the stairs, keeping his eyes on her the whole time. "Great." Jess whispered, looking to Lia who had a small smirk on her face, "now he thinks I'm going to rip his blooming head off" she huffed and relaxed in Ben's arms.

Hal walked forward and handed Ben his jacket, Ben nodded and released Jess, who slumped gratefully. "Straight to the school. Once you get there _stay there_." he said forcefully, putting emphasis on his words as he stared them both in the eyes. "Tell Dad and that's it." they both nodded and took off, Jess only stopping to give Lia a hug. "Nice work." Lia whispered to her, before releasing her.

"Math geek." she heard Hal say to Ben, who nudged him playfully and smirked back, "dumb jock." he said, hitting him back, before holding his hand out to Jess, who took it and walked out the door behind him.

She just hoped they wouldn't be too late.


	11. Chapter 11

Lia sighed desperately as her baby sister walked out the door behind Ben, she managed a small smile as Jess turned back around, but she couldn't do much more without tears burning in her eyes. Lia felt a hand move around her shoulders and pull her tight against a hard chest. "They'll be fine." Hal whispered, pressing his nose into her hair, she shivered at the feeling but leaned in closer to Hal, relishing in the feeling of his arms around her.

"I bloody hope so." Lia whispered, watching as Jess smiled at Ben, her legs pounding into the ground as she disappeared into the forest. Hal laughed as she yawned and pulled her away from the window and led her upstairs, setting her down in the master bedroom. She laid down with a slight moan of the feel of the soft bed. Her hand shot out as Hal shot her a smirk and turned to leave, blushing she looked down as he spun around, looking down at her with shock in his eyes.

"Can you um… stay?" she whispered, her voice shaking with fear and embarrassment. He smiled brilliantly, happiness glowing from his face as he nodded. "Of course." he whispered, pulling off his shoes and slipping in beside her, planting a sweet kiss on her lips as he drew her closer, her head resting on his chest, finger splayed delicately against his shoulder.

She sighed contentedly, her breath sending shivers down his spine as it met his exposed skin. "Thank you." she breathed, feeling her worry for Jess sink away as he rubbed circles into her back, she relaxed into the bed and knew that, at least for a couple of hours, she would have nightmare-free sleep. "You're welcome love." Was the last thing she heard before she slipped into darkness.

Lia woke up with a start, breathing heavily as she felt the arm wrap around her waist pull tighter. She gasped and opened her eyes quickly, but instantly settled when she saw Hal's dark blue eyes staring back at her in worry. "Lia?" he whispered, running his fingers through her thick curls. Trying to calm her raging heart she rolled over on top of him and set her chin on his chest. She could feel their heartbeats racing against each other, pounding desperately to reach each other.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he whispered, looking at her seriously for a moment. She sighed and looked down, "not exactly." she whispered back. "I'm just… not exactly used to waking up and not being strapped down to a table." Hal instantly tensed, his hands locking around her, pushing her hair away from her face and sitting up. "Lia. Look at me." he whispered, pulling her chin up gently. She met his eyes, feeling her stomach start turning at the look in his eyes, she had seen it before, when her Father looked at her Mother.

"I _promise_ you. You never have to feel like that again, as long as I'm around, they cant get you." he whispered, holding her head in both hands and speaking as if she was a small child. She sighed gratefully and felt her body relax as his words sunk in, she moved her head so it was fit into his shoulder, clenching her hand around his t-shirt. "Thank you Hal." she whispered, genuinely believing his words, she knew now that he would go above and beyond to keep her safe.

Though she was still unsure of his feelings for her. It seemed like he was really serious about them being together, though he had made no move nor said anything to reassure her that he wanted to be with her, that the kisses meant something to him. He must have felt her tense up again, because he leaned his head down and asked her what was wrong. Sighing deeply she looked up into his eyes, feeling her body shake with apprehension about what she was going to do.

"Hal…" she whispered before stopping, her mind shouting at her not to do it, not to ruin everything they had over a title. But she wanted Hal to be hers and hers alone, especially with Lourdes and that Maggie girl running around. She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves, looking into Hal's scared face. "What are we?" she said, finally giving into her heart. He let out a nervous breath and smiled shakily.

"For a second there I thought you were going to tell me that you didn't want to be with me anymore." he said, laughing a little. Lia smirked a little, feeling a small amount of weight lift off her shoulders. "I didn't think I needed to say it, but I thought we were… together?" he said, phrasing it like a question, as if asking for her permission, Lia wanted to laugh at the shy look on his face, like he was scared of her reaction. He let out a breath and looked at her seriously, like he had found some courage. "I thought you were my girlfriend." he said simply, looking at her.

Lia's heart stopped, before insane happiness sparked in her system, brightening her eyes. Hal must have noticed it because he started grinning like a madman, she grabbed his face in her hands and smashed her lips to his, groaning as his hands came up to encircle her waist, pressing her harder into his chest. They pulled away gasping, staring at each other and grinning like patients in an insane asylum.

"Good." Lia replied simply, pulling his lips to hers again. He smiled against her lips and gently squeezed her sides, making her squeak in surprise and lightly smack him on the chest. "Hal Mason." she whispered seriously, seeing the cheeky idea forming in his eyes. "Don't you DARE!" she screamed the last word as his hands began tickling her, sending her screaming with laughter, tears squeezing out of her eyes as she tried - and failed - to fight him off.

"We should be moving out soon, we wouldn't want Clayton catching up with us." she whispered when he finally stopped. He looked down at her, pouting a little, but conceded, rolling off her and helping her up off the bed. They padded downstairs softly, boots making barely any sound as they came out onto the hardwood floors.

Lia heard the small sounds of combat boots on the wet ground and flinched, looking up at Hal as his eyes came to rest on her shaking form. "They've found us." she whispered, looking up into his wide blue eyes. A few seconds later the sounds of shifting guns met her ears, along with a louder than usual "Good Morning!" from outside. Clayton and his group had caught up with them.

Hal froze, his eyes tearing away from hers and out the window to see them all lined up behind trees, guns pointed on the house, and awaiting the reply. "Come on out, we're taking you home!" Clayton called when the reply didn't come. "Oh god." Lia whispered, feeling bile rise up in her stomach at the thought of going back to the Skitters, of the machines they would use on her to get the information.

"Hey." Hal whispered, grabbing her shoulder and shaking it slightly. "They aren't going to get you. I made you a promise." he whispered, kissing her cheek lightly before moving closer to the door to look at Clayton. Lia let out an audible sigh of relief as her nerves calmed, she trusted Hal like no other, she'd never had someone that she could fully and wholly rely on to keep her sane, to love her with all her faults and fears.

_Thank god for Hal Mason_. She moved in closer to Hal, holding her rifle close to her body and staring out at the man who had sold them without a second thought. "Don't make me come in there Hal, no body wants to see you get hurt." Clayton called again. Lia huffed, annoyed at the gall of the man. "He needs to learn to shut the hell up and sit down." Lia whispered angrily, hoisting her rifle higher. Her quip earned a chuckle from Hal, before he turned back to Clayton.

Hal opened the door and peeked out the small pane of glass to the side. "We know about your deal!" Lia called, "You need us all alive… me especially!" Clayton chuckled. "Well I need you Lia. But as for your friends… theirs a term in war… 'Acceptable Losses' One of your friends gets hurt or killed, I can live with that." Lia growled, anger seizing her entire body and threatening to send her sprinting onto the yard to rip Clayton's throat out herself.

"Go to hell!" she screamed, turning the corner and shooting wildly, managing to clip one of his men in the side, he went down and the warm feeling of victory flushed through her body, before the return fire came and she rolled out of the way to avoid being hit. They ran back to the living room and behind the couch as Clayton's men scrambled for cover. "What are we gonna do?" Lourdes whispered frantically, the fear palpable in her eyes and the violent shaking of her hands.

"Hal and I will try to lure them off. You take them out the back and get the hell outta here." Lia whispered, nodding the the frightened girl, who visibly relaxed at the mention of a plan. Lia looked back out and saw a man raising his gun to take a shot at Hal, but before she could jump and push him out of the way, a shot came from behind Clayton and knocked the shooter through the head.

Lia frantically watched for a sign to see who had saved Hal, but she saw none, only Clayton's group spiriting and reeling to find the shooter and get to cover. "Get your damn head down kid!" someone yelled. Lia had never been so happy to hear a degenerates voice in her life. "Pope." she whispered,pulling Hal down onto the floor next to her, covering her head. "Hey Clayton! How's that Skitter deal working now huh?" Pope yelled. Lia giggled at his words more so to relieve the tension.

Tom's voice came from the other side of the forest, calling that Pope was dead and they should hold their fire. "It's dad!" Matt cried, stepping forward. Lia looked up and shook her head, motioning for him to move back. Lourdes grabbed him right on time, "don't move Matt." Lia whispered, heart pounding in her chest as the curly haired boy pouted and curled in on himself.

There was a short conversation before Tom called out for his boys. "It's all over!" Tom called, Hal immediately stood, dragging Lia with him and taking them slowly outside, hands raised in surrender. Hal walked over to his father, anger on his face as he stared down his Dad, there was a short argument before Tom effectively ended it with a short sentence and a warning look, before he turned away and back to Clayton. Hal sniffed and turned away, back to Lia and Matt, grabbing him around the shoulders and pulling him close as they began to walk back to the farm house.

Lia's heart rammed in her chest, she could already hear the hissing of the skitters and the feeling of the Overlord's breath on her neck, as they looked down at their experiment. She could feel the needles boring into her skin with copious amounts of the 'Venom' they had used to transform her in the first place. Hal leaned over and took her hand, grimacing at her and giving her hand a comforting squeeze. "It's all going to be okay." he whispered, staring her down, not allowing her eyes to stray for a moment. "We'll figure this out, I told you I'd never let them get you, and I'm keeping that promise." Lia sighed and looked down, defeat stuck against her heart, a slow and mournful rhythm that threatened to drag her back under.

"You cant promise that." she whispered. "No one can promise that."


End file.
